Readers of that classic ‘mockumentary’ on Turangi – “TONGARIRO Skulduggery” will recall the theme where a gaggle of TRM ladies formed their own committee who recommended to Government the key issues needed to enhance Turangi. There were 20 issues listed, most of which were previously reported on in TRM’s annual “wish list”.

The BIG issue, that received their most avid attention, was their strong recommendation for Government to disband the Waitangi Tribunal. Wow! Readers will need to have perused the book to fully understand the full story implications, but it is a ripper! Three years ago it anticipated the strong feelings of TRM inmates, and many many others, about controversial issues that were troubling them. The Waitangi Tribunal was the biggie. After publishing, books were posted to various people who had been mentioned. Amongst those was a wonderful lady who has been the spokesperson ‘Hobson’s Pledge” organisation, Casey Costello. As confirmed above in the NZ Herald, she is now standing for Parliament representing NZ First. TRM wishes her every success.

Now, three years later, you may realise that for some it is election year! At her first NZ First party meeting on 22nd July she received the greatest reception when she introduced her policy proposal which initially suggests “the removal of the exclusive authority of the Waitangi Tribunal to determine the meaning and effect of the Treaty of Waitangi, alongside several removals or reviews of the tribunal’s powers“.

Well I never! What a hoot! Some astute TRM inmates have already twigged. What a coincidence…

She went on to say: “We cannot allow ourselves to be further divided and cannot allow Maori to continue to be used as sacrificial pawns in this political chess match… We need to bring back some level of control over the authority because it’s circumventing the legislative process and it does not follow due process”.

In the epic tale – TONGARIRO Skulduggery – three years ago the ‘mockumentary’ tells of the group of deserted women at TRM – their husbands were typically all missing, fishing the Tongariro River – who formed a girl-power committee to protest, and used a unique but very effective technique (aka commercial blackmail) to persuade NZ Government to introduce changes that would secure the economic future of Turangi as a trout fishing tourist destination forever. The biggest item was to remove the Waitangi Tribunal. (It is almost beyond coincidence?) In their efforts to identify issues, they relied on information provided by Hobson’s Pledge. Their leader, Don Brash, was also briefly mentioned in the tale. (It is all true, except where I lied.)

Briefly, Don Brash is a former New Zealand politician who was Leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National Party from October 2003 to November 2006, and leader of the ACT New Zealand party for seven months from April to November 2011.

Brash resigned as party leader on 27 November 2006, and retired from Parliament in February 2007. In 2016, he founded the right-wing lobby group Hobson’s Pledge, to seek to nullify the partnership between Māori and the Crown, and further oppose equitable measures for Māori.

So there you have it. We emphasise that TRM’s book is not supposed to represent any form of persuasive political propaganda. To repeat the ‘Introduction’, it is an intriguing story about the Tongariro River to explore many other fishy issues and weld them into a fictitious plot. But as you can surmise from the above coincidence (?) if you can read between the lines it includes many hidden messages. If this tickles your fancy then the last collector’s copies of the book are still available only at TRM reception.